Ball in general, life on the road… on this blog, either you do or you don't.

Wednesday tidbits: Greene, Ankiel, Rasmus, DeRosa

Wow, just an amazing night at Busch Stadium, game time temperature in the mid-80s but feels even nicer than that.

* Khalil Greene is coming along nicely and could be activated soon.

“He’s getting his work in,” John Mozeliak said. “He’s feeling good and we’re going to revisit it this weekend. There’s a chance that we’ll contemplate activating him shortly.”

* The Cardinals started an unusual outfield tonight, with Holliday in left, Ludwick in center and Stavinoha in right — part of an all-right-handed lineup. That’s in part due to Clayton Kershaw’s splits — lefties are hitting 174/253/233 against him. And it’s in part due to Rick Ankiel’s recovery from a mild groin strain.

“I was thinking be really careful today and he’d be OK tomorrow,” TLR said. “He said he feels really good today. But I still would like to… try not to use him. But he feels majorly improved.”

The skipper said if he’d started a left-hander in center, it would have been Schumaker. Rasmus is recovering pretty well, but TLR didn’t want him in against a guy like Kershaw. He also quipped that when Ludwick got a little cocky about playing center field, he knocked Ludwick down a bit by pointing out that it’s only because Pineiro is a groundball pitcher.

(NOTE: this was in jest, please spare the “TLR won’t let them have any fun” or whatever.)

* As for Rasmus, he discussed his recurring heel soreness with B.J. Rains and a couple of other scribes this afternoon.

“You can’t rest it, or give it enough rest to where it will go away,” Rasmus said. “It feels good now. I just have to deal with it until the offseason when it goes away. It’s just like a bone bruise, a deep bruise down to the bone.

“It just depends. Sometimes I feel it when I’m running, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I feel it when I’m hitting, sometimes I won’t. It’s kind of hit or miss.”

* Also from the shedding-light-on-injuries category, Mark DeRosa talked some about his left wrist this afternoon.

“I wouldn’t say it’s behind me,” he said. “I’ll re-assess it at the end of the year. I feel it every time I swing, but it’s not very painful. It’s just a strange feeling. I can’t even explain it. It’s like my knuckles are cracking when I hit the ball. That’s what it feels like. It’s something I’ve gotten used to in the last two or three weeks, and as long as it’s not affecting me on the field, it’s not a problem.”

* This was passed along to me by a couple of people, so I figured I’d pass it along to y’all:

The St. Louis Cardinals & Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society will host over 100 kids from the Redbird Rookies baseball league, sponsored by Cardinals Care at Busch Stadium on Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon as part of the team’s 2009 P.L.A.Y. (Promoting a Lifetime of Activity for Youth) Campaign. Cardinals head athletic trainer Barry Weinberg and staff, along with a current Cardinals player, will run drills and participate in a Q&A session. The P.L.A.Y. program was created in 2004 to educate children about the importance of living active and healthy lifestyles.

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7 Comments

So far tonight (Wed.), I don’t think it matters much from which side our Cards are hitting from. Missed two excellent chances to get on the board. First and fifth.
I have more confidence with Ank at the plate vs. a lefty than I do young Stav. We need to make Kershaw work more and complete the job. Joel Pin is pitching too well to have a lose tonight.
Looks like we’re getting some hosses to running. Looks like some good chemistry mixing. Funny how chemistry can be equated to athletic talent!
Seems all the talk in trades has centered around Halliday. What would be wrong with the ex-Philly Cliff Lee? He’s a lefty also. Still have a gut feeling that we need a lefty starting or at least coming out of the pen.

Where do I get my Hawksworth jersey? That guy pitched like a seasoned veteran tonight! And in that playoff type atmosphere. Wow! I want to see more of him on the hill, either as the 7th inning guy (like we need one) or at least give the guy a shot at the 5th spot in the rotation.

Despite all the hoopla about Holliday (and I am happy to see him join the team) it is Ludwick who continues to do the clutch hitting and largely goes unrecognized for it. I compared his numbers with Hollidays a month ago and they haven’t changed much since. Ludwick has the edge in HR and RBI. Reverse the order and let Holliday bat behind Ludwick and you will really see some results.

M,
Any thought yet on who maybe will be the September call ups? I’m looking at T. Greene, Craig, Freese. Freese has been hurt most of the year and Greene is tearing the cover off the ball. Craig has been hitting all year long. Maybe Jones? Flip side Kozma just committed his 20th error and is hitting .220 too bad, he looked like a sure thing.
Can’t really tell from pitching side who might make the jump if any

OK, Greene “could be activated soon,” got that. But then what? The team has made a number of moves that seem predicated on the notion that he would NOT be activated soon, and one might argue, obtained superior players (DeRosa, arguably Lugo if he’s at 100%) by doing it. Furthermore, Ryan has been so spectacular on defense, as shown by both observation and metrics, that it’d be a shame (and, worse, damaging to the team, IMO) to send him down to make space for Khalil. So what happens? Could we (FINALLY…) be seeing the end of the Joe Thurston era? Or is there some other plausible move that I’m missing?

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